Friday, May 19, 2017

Ecuador seeks safe passage of Assange from London embassy to Ecuador

A source close to the Foreign Ministry of Ecuador has said that the
Ecuadorian Government has been urging Britain to arrange for the safe
passage of Julian Assange from Ecuador’s London embassy to Ecuador.

The statement reads,

“Given that the European arrest warrant no longer holds,
Ecuador will now be intensifying its diplomatic efforts with the UK so
that Julian Assange can gain safe passage in order to enjoy his asylum
in Ecuador”.

This comes as British police threaten to arrest Assange for
breach of bail conditions, relating to the now dropped Swedish
investigation from 2012.

The United Nations has
called Assange’s internment at the Embassy “arbitrary” and said that it
infringed on his human rights under international law.

Britain will elect a new Parliament on the 8th of June. Thus
far, main party leaders including the current Prime Minister have
refrained from making any specific comments.

There is a looming fear that the UK may agree to extradite
Assange to the United States, should Washington ask for such a move. US
authorities have been eager to prosecute Assange for espionage in spite
of the fact that Assange is a publisher and not an intelligence agent.

Assange has sent the following Tweet about recent developments,

Detained for 7 years without charge by while my children grew up and my name was slandered. I do not forgive or forget.